What’s wrong with being gay? AnswerHomosexual behavior versus the Bible: Are people born gay? Does homosexuality harm anyone? Is it anyone’s business? Are homosexual and heterosexual relationships equally valid?

Here’s what the distributor says about their film: “Following a violent storm, a beautiful and sassy mermaid named Aquamarine washes ashore and into the lives of two teenage girls. After Aquamarine falls for a local, hunky lifeguard, she enlists the girls’ help to win his heart. / Filmed in Australia / Based on a novel.”

Positive—I took my 11 and 7 year old to see this movie. I thought it was a very cute tweens movie and not out of line for a 7 year old. There were a couple swear words, but mostly overlooked because of the cuteness of this movie. I felt it was about having good friends and helping someone in need, even if that someone was a mermaid. Basically a good, clean movie.My Ratings: Good / 3—Val, age 45

Positive—I viewed “Aquamarine” with my daughters, 4 and 6, and found the movie to be very enjoyable. They didn’t seem to notice that the mermaid had no shirt on (her long hair covered everything) or phrases like “bullshark” were substituted for profanity. There was only one offensive word in the movie that I noticed, and it was a name used that rhymes with “witch.” There is a prayer to the “gods of the sea” and some mild suspense. I have to point out that the objectionable parts were mild, few and far between. The message that the cool snotty girls don’t have it all together was beneficial, and the heroine, known as “Aqua” for short, stands up to ill-behaved little girls. She also is unapologetic for her unusual quirks as a mermaid, and her naivety and lack of self consciousness are values I would loosely want my children to have in this world and society. In a sense, as Christians we should be “fish out of water,” but be kind as this heroine was, undaunted by pressures to conform. My 6 year old applauded at the end of the movie. This movie is probably more appropriate for slightly older girls, but the moral viewpoint is as acceptable and refreshing as any princess story.My Ratings: Good / 3—Kimm Friedemann, age 38

Positive—My best friend and I just saw this movie, and we would recommend it. It is not just a tween movie! We’re young adults, and we loved it. It was very funny, and our favorite part was the scene where the mermaid and her friends are out by a buoy and they discover the amazing power of true friendship love. It is realistic that the lifeguard Aquamarine (the mermaid) loves cannot say that he truly loves her back. A relationship takes time. A realistic movie of young love with no offensive parts. Safe to take young children to, and a family film! My best friend and I got a poster!My Ratings: Good / 4—Janet, age 20

Positive—I went to see this movie with my sister and my friend last night, and it was the most fun we’d had at a movie in a long time. You don’t walk out of the movie feeling like you’ve wasted time, or that your morals have gone down. Sure, it’s kind of corny, in the way they’re trying so hard to get the guy to like them, but it’s something where you go “Hey, I used to do that!.” The best friends pair are really cute, and the mermaid makes you wish you knew people like her for her love of life. A great movie to take your younger girls too—finally something for them!My Ratings: Excellent! / 4—Emily, age 18

Positive—This was a very good movie. However, I think that it may be inappropriate for younger children. There are a lot of sexual overtones in the movie and skimpy clothing worn by a lot of the characters. It is a good story, but maybe not so much for the younger children.My Ratings: Average / 4—Lauren, age 20

Positive—My daughters really liked this movie. I did not feel that the girls were in any way looking for sex. They simply displayed teenage crushes. The mermaid was looking for love not to fool around. As far as homosexuality, there was only the one reference mentioned by other reviewers. There was in no way any show. They did not even show other boys looking at him in any sexual way. Overall, it was a cute movie about true friends.My Ratings: Average / 4—tracey, age 42

Positive—I’m a little confused over some of the comments made about this movie. I viewed it two times and never found any reference to homosexuality. Maybe the references just went over my head, but I’m very careful about what my 15 year old watches, and I didn’t find a whole lot to complain about with this movie. It was cute, with some good examples of friendship and helping others who are different from us. There was no sex in this movie… The relationship between the mermaid and the lifeguard was not sexual, just a normal attraction between two teenagers.My Ratings: Better than Average / 3—Donita Martin, age 48

Negative

Negative—A cute movie overall, pretty well acted, produced, etc. However, this movie is clearly being marketed to young girls and parents need to be aware of the not so subtle attempt to present homosexuality as normative. In one scene, some of Aquamarine’s friends are telling her that all the girls are “hot” for Raymond (whom Aquamarine likes) and even “some of the boys.” Had I known that this was in the film, I most certainly would not have taken my 10 year old daughter to see it.My Ratings: Offensive / 3—N. Green, age 42

Negative—This is the first movie I have ever walked out of. I had my 6 yr old daughter and 11 yr old son and 70ish parents with me and was so uncomfortable with the sensuality that we left after 30 minutes. My son was very much aware that even after the mermaid put on a t-shirt (long enough to be a dress), that she was naked underneath. The word *itch was used once in the 30 minutes, and there were numerous sexual references. These were not girls/boys I would want my daughter to emulate or my son to be attracted to.My Ratings: Offensive / 3—Coleen, age 45

Negative—“Aquarmarine” is the tale about two best friends who live in a seacoast town near Tampa, Florida. Joanne Levesque plays Haley, the friend of Emma Roberts character Claire. The premises of this movie is Haley has to move to Australia and Claire is staying in the seacoast town. This changes when Claire and Haley both pray to a weird mystical sea god, and a mermaid appears at the home where the girls live in. The mermaid says the girl can have a wish if the girls (Haley and Claire) make Raymond fall in love with the mermaid. …One example of the lack of good bible quality in this movie is the beginning you see Haley and Claire fawning over a lifeguard named Raymond (played by Jake McDorman). …There are only two real redeeming qualities of this movie. One is that the janitor (Leonard) helps the mermaid and then Haley realizes that moving away isn’t that bad. All in all I would suggest skipping this movie. There are better movies to watch, like “Because of Winn-Dixie”. …My Ratings: Offensive / 1½—Evan Land

Negative—This is a kids movie, WHY do they have to put homosexuality in it. I have 2 little girls and was so unhappy with the way they made homosexuality okay.My Ratings: Extremely Offensive / 3—Erin, age 28

Comments from young people

Positive—I found this movie to be fantastic! I read the book and was a little skeptical about whether or not the movie would be as good, but I was very happy that it was. Sara Paxton was fabulous as Aquamarine, a mermaid that has been given 3 days on land to prove to her Mer-Family that there is such thing as love, or she would have to follow through with an arranged marriage. She arrives in a storm, landing in a Country Club pool, which just happens to be visited by best friends Hailey and Claire, who find the mermaid. Hailey is soon moving to Australia, and the friends are desperate for some sort of divine intervention. They soon find that if they help Aquamarine find love with beach stud Raymond, she will grant them a wish, a wish that they had so desperately hoped for. The two friends guide Aquamarine through the steps of teenage romance, which is foreign to the mermaid, and work to make the couple fall in love. The only material in the movie that might be considered offensive is a scene of light kissing, and of Hailey and Claire praying to gods of nature, such as hurricanes and wind, to bring them a miracle. Overall, I found this movie to be terrific, and I would have no worries about bringing the kids to see it. It’s a movie any 7-13 year old girl would fall in love with. Happy Viewing!My Ratings: Better than Average / 4—Stephanie, age 14

Positive—I thought this movie was really good. I saw it in the theaters with my 2 sisters age 10 and 14. My little sister liked it better then me and my older sister did. I think this movie is better for girls age 8-13. they would probably love it. Overall, it was a great movie.My Ratings: Excellent! / 4—Ashley, age 12

Positive—I just saw this movie last night and it was very good. I would not recommend it to younger kids because they may not understand the boy/girl relationship happening in the movie. There are a few instances where the mermaid looks like she had no top on, but nothing is shown. It also has about 3 curse words including what the h***, and royal b****. Overall, this was an good movie, and I would definitely see it again!My Ratings: Excellent! / 5—Anna, age 12

Positive—I think this is a great movie for teens and younger to go to. …some parts of the movie aren’t the greatest and are very unrealistic, but overall it is a great movie. I loved it and so did my mom.My Ratings: Good / 4—Katelyn, age 13

Positive—I just saw Aquamarine yesterday with one of my friends. It is definitely going on my top favorite movies list. It was an awesome movie! I think that any girl would like it no matter what their age. I was offended by nothing in the movie at all. But the only things in it that extremely strict parents would find objectionable is that Haylie says royal b**** once (under her breath) and d*mn maybe twice (at the most). Aqua in a few scenes has no shirt on, but you can’t see anything because of her incredibly long hair. (the only scenes that she isn’t wearing a shirt are in the water) (Actually, I didn’t notice until my friend pointed it out). But those objections are certainly not things to discourage you from seeing this movie. Like I said before, I LOVED AQUAMARINE!My Ratings: Better than Average / 5—Theresa, age 13

Positive—The movie is cute, and only has a few swear words. It has wonderful acting from Julia Roberts’ niece [emma]. I’ll most likely get the DVD, it was so good.My Ratings: Better than Average / 4—Matt Jackson, age 10

Positive—Let me clear things up. Near the end of the movie Aquamarine has only a little bit of time before her father will pull her back into the ocean because she hasn’t proven to him that love exists. She asks Raymond (the guy that she likes) if he loves her, and he says he just wants to ease into that. So then her father starts a tidal wave that pulls her into the water, and her friends jump in and save her. When Aquamarine asks why they did it, they say because they love her. But they mean it as friends, not as homosexuals! And for those who disagree with me, note that this is only for a few minutes at the very end. The rest of the movie is perfectly clean, and one of the funniest movies I’ve seen in a long time. I would recommend it for ages eight and up, only because younger kids might get bored.My Ratings: Good / 4—Linda, age 14

Neutral—As an older kid, I liked it. …I read the book, also, and the movie isn’t like it at all.My Ratings: Average / 3—Cameron, age 9

Positive—“Aquamarine” was an awesome movie. All the actors did an amazing job. It didn’t seem inappropriate or anything like that because younger kids usually don’t pick up on swears in movies, if there is only like one. And “Aquamarine” did have a seaweed top, but her hair covered it most of the time. It was hilarious, emotional, and lots of other things which made it extra good. …My Ratings: Excellent! / 5—Elle, age 12

Positive—This is a great teen/pre-teen comedy, the actors are very good, and I found myself in laughter much of the movie. I’m afraid it is a bit far fetched with a mermaid, but it is a good movie to gather a bunch of friends and watch, though I would warn anyone that this is very much a girl movie, boys may find this very tiresome though some may like it because of how crazy the girls are. This movie is best for children over 10; the story line is mostly just boy-crazy girls helping out a friend who doesn’t know the “human” way, and it may be hard for younger children to really get the story line. Also, the mermaid is not wearing a shirt, but nothing can be seen at all, and that really shouldn’t be a worry for parents—the producers did very well with that, I think it is totally appropriate for any mature tween and teen. As a Christian, I see nothing wrong with the movie and actually find it very wholesome compared to other movies.My Ratings: Better than Average / 4—Kate, age 16

Positive—This was an excellent movie! And, it was completely clean. Perfect for younger children!! Absolutely loved it! We liked how in the end the power of friendship and sisterly love wins over the “love” in a crush. Previous viewers went on and on and on about how bad one line was in the movie “how some of the guys liked this other guy,” I didn’t even catch that line until I saw it twice.My Ratings: Good / 5—rachel, age 14

Positive—A lovely, bright, pleasant film. I really enjoyed this movie. It’s a feel-good movie, a summer flick, so it has an excuse to be a little… well, cheesy, or unreal, let’s just say, something your parents would think was pretty ridiculous. But I loved it! I thought it was a beautiful story of three friends who care about each other extremely. I liked how there were no dark spots in this movie, or things to make me really, really cringe or sink in my seat. There were some close calls like some plays with curse words though like: “Bull-shark!” which was pretty much stupid and un-called for, because it sounded waaay too close to the “other thing.” And Raymond could have picked his shorts up a little. But all-in-all great film for any girls. It was just one of those positive, fluffy, and forget-about-all-your-problems movies. I enjoyed it, and I recommend it. A nice mother-daughter film or sister-sister film.My Ratings: Better than Average / 4—Amy Gibson, age 16